Member of a national French orchestra, co-founder of Ensemble Ouranos wind quintet and Les Francs Bassons bassoon quartet, living between Paris and Strasbourg.
With years of experience as a professional bassoonist, playing all over the world with my orchestra and my chamber music ensembles (USA, Asia, and of course Europe), I can definitely help you get a grip of what is the French way of playing the bassoon today and together we'll be able to study the very rich repertoire for the bassoon (solo, orchestral and chamber music).
With a positive mindset, I'll help you understand what is our role as a bassoon player, as part of an orchestra or a chamber music formation, and we'll work together on how to improve your technical abilities and your artistic skills by exploring the amazing repertoire !

Complete biography:
Rafael Angster was born in 1992 in Strasbourg, France, where he began to study french bassoon with Jean-Christophe Dassonville at the age of 8. During his early years of learning, he won two back-to-back first prizes in the National Young Bassoon Competition in Caen and Limoges (France).
He then studied with maestros Gilbert Audin and Philippe Hanon in the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris (CNSMDP) where he graduated in may 2015 with the highest marks and congratulations of the Jury. He also completed a contemporary improvisation diploma there, with the highest marks as well.

In 2012, Rafael won the 2nd Prize and the Prize for best rendition of the modern piece at the K.M. v. Weber International Bassoon Competition in Wroclaw, Poland.
He then co-founded two chamber music ensembles, the wind quintet Ensemble Ouranos and the bassoon quartet Les Francs Bassons, with which he makes numerous concerts all around the world.
He is also supported by Buffet Crampon, a world leader in the making of wind instruments, and travels with them around the world to play bassoon and promote French bassoon: Tokyo (Japan) in 2016, Granada (Spain) in 2018, Tampa (Florida) in 2019).
In 2017, Rafael won the First Prize of the International Chamber Music Competition of Lyon (France), with his friends of Ouranos Wind Quintet. He also had the chance to go to New York (USA), to meet and play a concert with maestro Frank Morelli, bassoon teacher at the Juilliard School and one of the world’s finest bassoon players.
In 2018, he was a finalist and laureate of the Gillet-Fox International Bassoon Competition, organized by the International Double-Reed Society, and held in Granada (Spain).
In 2019, Rafael was nominated « Classical Revelation of the Year » by the Adami, a National Committee that supports young French artists. He is also the First Prize Winner of the Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition of Copenhagen (Denmark) with his friends of Ouranos Wind Quintet.
Rafael is since 2016 the Principal Bassoon in the National Orchestra of Strasbourg (France), his birthplace.